I struggled to push myself up, but my body screamed in protest, every nerve firing agony, making me go down again, shivering in pain. I tried to assess my situation by moving only my eyes. But my vision appeared blurry and red from all the blood streaming down my body—no, that wasn't the only reason—I could feel my eyes hurting the longer I kept them open, most likely they had also been damaged.
I slowly, ever so slowly, extended my hand into the pocket of my burned clothes and found a potion that I had made together with Asfi, which miraculously survived the crash. The small bottle of the potion that even a child could lift felt heavy like a mountain.
I tried to open the cork, but found it to be a monumental task that far exceeded my strength at the moment. With no other option left, I dropped the bottle on the ground and crawled. The pain shot through my body again, which I ignored, and I grabbed the glass bottle between my teeth, crushing it. Sharp pain lanced through my gums as glass shards cut into my mouth. I tasted blood, fresh blood mixing with the bitter potion. Didn't matter. Swallowed it all.
So bitter.
I thought, remembering the same complaint I had made to her.
Despite the pain, a small smile made its way to my face. I lay there on the ground, letting the potion do its work. Within seconds, I felt my blood grow hot, my heart pounded dangerously fast like a war drum, 180 or 200 beats per minute? My senses got sharper, except my eyes, which remained damaged. After all, what I had consumed wasn't a health potion but one that forcefully induced adrenaline.
I tried moving my body, and this time I was able to do it easily. I planted one hand on the ground. Then the other. My arms shook like branches in a storm.
Get up.
I pushed. My body screamed. I pushed harder. Knees on the ground.
Almost there.
One foot planted. Then the other. I rose, swaying, vision swimming.
But I was standing.
"The after-effects are going to be hell," but right now, hell was preferable to death. I thought, looking down through my blurry vision at my messed-up body.
BOOOM!!
"Time to move," I heard explosions happening in the distance, and I started running in that direction, covering several kilometers in a few seconds. The adrenaline potion turned me into a missile, the distance vanished beneath my feet, rocks and debris blurring past.
Even blurrily, I could see Ais with her black winds surrounding her, fighting with the dragon. While the others also attacked, Asfi kept throwing bombs down at the dragon, keeping it from flying away.
"Arin! Are you oka—your eyes are bleeding!" Riveria's voice cracked with barely contained panic. Her hand rose, magic already gathering at her fingertips, pale green light flickering to life. "Hold still, I'll—"
"We don't have time for this, Riveria," I cut her off, forcing the words out between labored breaths. "First, we need to get Ais under control. Keep using your ice magic to keep the dragon contained. I'll bring Ais back."
"...Understood, but at least use a potion." She answered after a pause.
"Sorry, can't do," I replied. "The potion I took is unstable; mixing it with other magic or potions could cause a rejection. And without your staff, your healing won't be strong enough to fix this anyway. Save your magic for the dragon!"
Riveria's jaw clenched, her composed facade cracking, but she didn't follow. She understood the cold logic, and I was grateful she didn't push further.
"Arin—" Ryuu's relief died the instant she got a clear look at me. Her ocean-blue eyes widened. "Your armor... It's melted to your skin. And your eyes—"
"I can see enough," I lied. The world was a red-tinted blur, but saying so would be just worrying her needlessly.
"You should be dead!" Asfi's shout came from above, her voice raw with something between fury and terror. "That amount of damage—how are you even standing?!" She paused, most likely connecting the dots, "...Don't tell me you took that potion!"
"Yup, I did!" I called back, as I parried the monster claws to my right. "The side effects won't be that severe, so stop worrying!"
"Don't you dare tell me to stop worrying!" But even as she yelled, another explosive device was already leaving her hand, arcing toward the dragon. Her movements were mechanical, automatic, as if she were forcing herself to keep fighting.
"You're insane," Kaguya said, and for once, there was no mockery in her voice. Only something like horrified awe. "You look like you crawled out of hell itself."
"Felt like it too," I replied, dodging left as the dragon's tail whipped past. "You should see the other guy." This dragon is so annoying! I thought as I tried to get near Ais, only to get blocked by the sharp, massive claws.
"The other guy is fine!" Kaguya snapped. "You're the one who's falling apart!"
"I'll fall apart after we win!" I shot back, releasing several arrows of fire and wind that the dragon shield blocked, not before faltering slightly, so its shield isn't unbreakable. I analyzed through all the chaos. "Now are you going to help me or keep running commentary?!"
"Back already?" Alise called out, a grin audible in her voice despite the dire situation. "Knew you were tougher than you looked, though obviously not as tough as me! Ahem!"
"Hey, I look just as tough as I am!" I leaped forward, closing in on where Ais fought with increasing recklessness. Her black winds cut into the air, growing darker with each exchange. She leaped at the dragon, her sword raised to the sky, but with a single flick of the dragon's claws, she was thrown away, the wind working as a mini fortress protecting her from any real harm.
Taking that as my chance, I lunged forward, closing the distance before she could react. My arms wrapped around her from behind, pinning her arms, blocking her vision like I'd done before. But this time was different; this time her black winds tore into me, shredding already-burned skin. I held on anyway.
"Ais, Calm down!" I shouted, but received no response. Deciding that the previous approach wasn't going to work, I released my own wind, trying to calm her dark winds, but the black wind resisted cutting through my magic like a razor. I pushed harder, both our winds becoming a tangled mess. Her eyes remained unfocused, staring through me at something I couldn't see.
"Ais! Will you listen to me?!? Or are we going to continue wasting time?" I said, this time, there was no warmth in my words. The situation was far too precarious for us to be standing around like that, when all the others fought tooth and nail against that monster, and most of all, we were both fighting on borrowed time, her body breaking under her own power, mine held together by chemical desperation. If this didn't end soon, we'd both fall. Worse, sooner or later, her own wind would break her body, and I couldn't watch that happen. I cupped her small face in my hands, my warm blood trickling down onto her chin, as I forced her to look right into my eyes.
"You said you wanted to be strong. Is that what you mean by strong? Losing yourself to rage?! Hurting everyone else like that? Or do you not care about how Riveria and others feel?! Do you have a slight idea how worried they are?! How worried I am!" My throat felt sore from all the shouting as I poured out the word. And I knew those words were going to hurt her, but right now, I wanted her back. My Ais. After all, I can apologize later anyway.
The dragon roared behind us. Someone—Alise?—screamed a warning. I ignored it all, focused only on the girl in front of me.
Her eyes gained a slight focus before they widened in worry, sadness, frustration, helplessness, and a myriad of other emotions as she looked at my tattered body. "A-Arin, you—I… I am sorry… I—I am…" she said. Finally …she looked at me as her black wind receded. Her hands rose toward my face, trembling, but stopped short—afraid to touch, afraid she'd hurt me more. Tears welled in her golden eyes. I released her face and patted her head.
"It's fine. Apologies can wait—both yours and mine," I said, looking back towards the group as they continuously attacked the dragon, forcing it away from us, but I knew they won't be able to do it for long.
"Arin!" Riveria's voice carried relief sharp enough to cut. "Is she—?"
"She's back!" I called out.
"Then hurry back already!" Kaguya's desperate cry, completely different from her usual snarkiness, rang out. I saw her desperately running around the monster's legs, wounding them with her katana.
"Let's head back, Ais, we need to take care of that dragon."
"Um," Ais nodded. I stepped forward and grabbed her hand. Ais looked down at our joined hands, then back at me. Something flickered in her eyes: gratitude, maybe, or determination. Or both.
She squeezed my hand once. Hard as if to confirm if I was really there.
I squeezed back.
"Use your wind magic. I will strengthen it." I instructed.
"Tempest," At her command, wind once again encircled her body. I called forth my own winds, green-white light mixing with her tempest. This time, instead of fighting, our winds recognized each other. They spiraled together, merging like rivers into a greater current, amplifying each other's strength as they encircled her at a higher and more condensed speed.
"Then let's go," I said, as we nodded to each other, smiles on our faces, as we sprinted toward the ancient dragon.